I need some of you mountain folk who have Cherokee in you to do a rain dance for the mountains. I am going fishing this weekend rain or no rain...but would love a little more water. How have the streams been fishing lately? Anybody fished any east tennessee tailwaters? Any suggestions on where to go with these current conditions.

Jim Casada

07-09-2010, 06:29 AM

rockytopwoolybugger--I've got a bit of Cherokee blood in me and can clog at a pretty lively pace (just not nearly as long as once was the case). If I thought the effort would bring rain I'd be shakin' a leg to the point of exhaustion.
This side of the Park (N.C.) is somewhat better than the TN. side, but streams are really beginning to drop. Deep Creek is low and warm on the lower end; Noland Creek and Luftee are a bit better, especially temperture-wise.
There's a good chance of thunderstorms the next couple of days, and let's just hope they are widespread.
Jim Casada
www.jimcasadaoutdoors.com (http://www.jimcasadaoutdoors.com)

Carlito

07-09-2010, 11:04 AM

Looks like we might be in luck. Here in Maryville it is pretty overcast. I'll be hitting the water early tomorrow, rain or shine!

cag215

07-09-2010, 05:56 PM

Big Creek had a great flow of water Thursday of last week. I don't know if I just happen to hit it a few days after a good rain, but it was running twice as hard as the Greenbriar.

Jim Casada

07-09-2010, 07:40 PM

All--Just call me the rainmaker--sort of. I'm just back from an afternoon outing on Straight Fork. It produced a Smoky Mountain Slam (pretty common on Straight Fork) and at about 6:15 it absolutely fell a flood. It continued pouring until I was most of the way out of Big Cove and then quit. Here in Bryson City, at this point, we've had maybe 10 drops. Hope the showers will be widespread this evening. Radar looks promising.
Jim Casada
www.jimcasadaoutdoors.com (http://www.jimcasadaoutdoors.com)

Crockett

07-09-2010, 07:54 PM

Good rain off and on the last couple of hours here in Maryville too. Jim congrats on your slam and glad to hear it rained over there in that area since I am staying at smokemont tomorrow night.

duckypaddler

07-10-2010, 12:18 AM

Speaking of fishing low water, I thought of a application we boaters use to predict when small creeks will rise as by the time the actual water reaches the guage it will quickly drop and be too low to kayak. You could use this to predict what creek to fish that day. I have noticed for the first time this year that 2 creeks with less than a 1/2 mile away from another can be a significantly different levels.

What we do is go to weather.gov (not .com) and download the KMZ image (thats the relectivity or perceived rainfall from the satellite). Then open that file with google earth (which you will need to download if you don't have). What you get is a much more detailed rain maps. For instance you may see a line of red go accross the mountains on WBIR. When you zoom in to the watershed with the KMZ image you will see that parts were red parts were yellow and you can pretty accurately predict where the water actually fell.

I used this a week ago Wednesday and canceled my Indian Camp trip and headed for Greenbrier headwaters instead. I'm sure glad I did beacause I may have had my first 100 fish day! Although the manway to Buck Fork is in sad shape and left me with "Rhodo Shins":biggrin:

nvr2L8

07-10-2010, 11:10 AM

Bad news is that, as Byron reported in the Fishing Report today, the rainfall at the airport and in Townsend was minimal. Good news is that Lecont got .66" and Newfound gap got .61". Not nearly enough but a step in the right direction. :smile: